|
Also known as: John Owen;
Little John
Son of a carpenter, Nicholas was raised in a family dedicated to the
persecuted Church, and became a carpenter and mason. Two of his brothers
became priests, another a printer of underground Catholic books, and
Nicholas used his building skills to save the lives of priests and help
the Church's covert work in England.
Nicholas worked with Saint Edmund Campion, sometimes using the pseudonym
John Owen; his short stature led to the nickname Little John. When Father
Edmund was martyred, Nicholas spoke out against the atrocity. For his
trouble, he was imprisoned.
Father Henry Garnet, Superior of English Jesuits, employed Nicholas to
construct hiding places and escape routes in the various mansions used as
priest-centers throughout England. By day he worked at the mansion on
regular wood- and stone-working jobs at the mansions so that no one would
question his presence; by night he worked alone, digging tunnels, creating
hidden passages and rooms in the house. Some of his rooms were large
enough to hold cramped, secretive prayer services, but most were a way for
single clerics to escape the priest-hunters. As there were no records of
his work, there is no way of knowing how many of these hiding places he
built, or how many hundreds of priests he saved. The anti-Catholic
authorities eventually learned that the hiding places existed, but had no
idea who was doing the work, or how many there were.
Due to the work, the danger, and the periodic arrests of the Jesuits,
Nicholas never had a formal novitiate, but he did receive instruction, and
in 1577 became a Jesuit Brother. On 23 April 1594 he was arrested in
London and lodged in the Tower of London for his association with Father
John Gerard. Not knowing who they had, the authorities released Nicholas
soon after, and he resumed his work.
On 5 November 1605, Brother Nicholas and three other Jesuits were forced
to hide in Hinlip Hall, a structure with at least 13 of his hiding places,
to escape the priest-hunters. Owen spent four days in one of his secret
rooms, but having no food or water, he finally surrendered and was taken
to a London prison. He was endlessly tortured for information on the
underground network of priests and their hiding. He was abused so
violently that on 1 March 1606, while suspended from a wall, chained by
his wrists, with weights on his ankles, his stomach split open, spilling
his intestines to the floor; he survived for hours. Because he was under
orders not to kill Nicholas, the torturer spread the lie that Owen had
committed suicide. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Born
16th century Oxford, England
Died
tortured to death on 2 March 1606 in London, England
Beatified
15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
Canonized
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintn57.htm
|
